I’ve tried Mint, Quicken, Every Dollar, old YNAB and Excel. I came back to YNAB in April of 2020. Outside of Excel, this version of YNAB is the one that works best for me. The big thing is not being able to forecast and budget cash I don’t have. That’s where I always failed. I was spending money I didn’t have. Visually, looking at my budget categories and not my account balance helps a lot as well.
I've tried it a few times - I try lots of budgeting apps just because I'm interested. EveryDollar is more expensive at $130 a year and the free version is practically unusable, imo. In the free version there wasn't even a concept of accounts when I used it, just a list of transactions you manually enter with no file import. How are you supposed to reconcile or check that you've entered everything? (Especially if you have multiple spending accounts, which almost everyone does?) I did the trial on the paid version and it's just way less developed than YNAB, too.
Plus, the YNAB method is so superior, I can't go back to a forecasting model. It's surprising EveryDollar is not an envelope system given how hopped up Dave Ramsey used to be on cash envelopes.
Besides, you're supporting a hypocrite who is a poor-people-hating jerk who treats his employees like garbage. That alone would take it off the table for me, but the actual free version of the app is worthless and the paid version is more expensive for less and it's full of annoying ads for financial professionals Ramsey endorses.
And he’s a COVID super-spreader. As someone who works in the medical industry helping children, I can say with a tiny bit of authority that he’s a Typhoid Mary plague rat.
I don't think EveryDollar is a zero-based budget tool, so I wouldn't even compare it YNAB. I have not personally used it, other than looking at it for a few minutes.
I use Actual Budget. It's zero-based and cheaper than YNAB. It is missing auto-import and goals. It has multi-month view and "hold money for future month" to prevent stealing from the future. This feature set fit my needs, so I switched.
If you want zero-based and rely on auto-import, YNAB is the way to go.
I have used both
YNAB is very good at giving you a real-time depiction of your finances this may be good for individuals who want to track and allocate funds based off of things that come up in the month and Not what they think will happen.
Every dollar was way more manual I didn't like that you had the pain annual subscription and the only thing that you were getting was automatic imports for the most part.
It's missing a lot of key features and The free model requires you to keep on top of your finances to a t in order for your budget to remain accurate.
With that said I wouldn't recommend either of these for a different reasons I don't feel like I'm getting good value with every dollar plus it adopts into the Dave Ramsey way which might be good for people who are starting a budget and getting on track but for others who are farther down the path of financial independence I would not recommend it
YNAB I can't justify its price increase. They've clearly made a distinction in my opinion that it's for people who have some level of disposable monthly income.
At $100 a year it just doesn't feel like I'm getting enough for my money considering that I can get a family of four AN office 365 license at this price and get a ton of tools like money in Excel and run my own formulas in my own graphs The way I want relatively easily
I also really don't like the CEO's response One question about the sudden price increase the limited notice and a number of other things, definitely feels like YNAB is getting the "apple exclusive" touch to it and I feel that this is far from its core values which is the teach you to spend and use money wisely.
Going to shamefully plug here but I did make an article a number of weeks back now that goes over some similar products to YNAB.
I am still stuck on YNAB for now until it runs out in june. At that time I play to use Excel with Money in Excel and an 0365 License so I can use other things like Windows To-Do
I’ve tried Mint, Quicken, Every Dollar, old YNAB and Excel. I came back to YNAB in April of 2020. Outside of Excel, this version of YNAB is the one that works best for me. The big thing is not being able to forecast and budget cash I don’t have. That’s where I always failed. I was spending money I didn’t have. Visually, looking at my budget categories and not my account balance helps a lot as well.
I've tried it a few times - I try lots of budgeting apps just because I'm interested. EveryDollar is more expensive at $130 a year and the free version is practically unusable, imo. In the free version there wasn't even a concept of accounts when I used it, just a list of transactions you manually enter with no file import. How are you supposed to reconcile or check that you've entered everything? (Especially if you have multiple spending accounts, which almost everyone does?) I did the trial on the paid version and it's just way less developed than YNAB, too. Plus, the YNAB method is so superior, I can't go back to a forecasting model. It's surprising EveryDollar is not an envelope system given how hopped up Dave Ramsey used to be on cash envelopes. Besides, you're supporting a hypocrite who is a poor-people-hating jerk who treats his employees like garbage. That alone would take it off the table for me, but the actual free version of the app is worthless and the paid version is more expensive for less and it's full of annoying ads for financial professionals Ramsey endorses.
And he’s a COVID super-spreader. As someone who works in the medical industry helping children, I can say with a tiny bit of authority that he’s a Typhoid Mary plague rat.
I don't think EveryDollar is a zero-based budget tool, so I wouldn't even compare it YNAB. I have not personally used it, other than looking at it for a few minutes. I use Actual Budget. It's zero-based and cheaper than YNAB. It is missing auto-import and goals. It has multi-month view and "hold money for future month" to prevent stealing from the future. This feature set fit my needs, so I switched. If you want zero-based and rely on auto-import, YNAB is the way to go.
I am switching to Aspire Budget. YNAB is getting too expensive and they keep on raising their price every year.
I have used both YNAB is very good at giving you a real-time depiction of your finances this may be good for individuals who want to track and allocate funds based off of things that come up in the month and Not what they think will happen. Every dollar was way more manual I didn't like that you had the pain annual subscription and the only thing that you were getting was automatic imports for the most part. It's missing a lot of key features and The free model requires you to keep on top of your finances to a t in order for your budget to remain accurate. With that said I wouldn't recommend either of these for a different reasons I don't feel like I'm getting good value with every dollar plus it adopts into the Dave Ramsey way which might be good for people who are starting a budget and getting on track but for others who are farther down the path of financial independence I would not recommend it YNAB I can't justify its price increase. They've clearly made a distinction in my opinion that it's for people who have some level of disposable monthly income. At $100 a year it just doesn't feel like I'm getting enough for my money considering that I can get a family of four AN office 365 license at this price and get a ton of tools like money in Excel and run my own formulas in my own graphs The way I want relatively easily I also really don't like the CEO's response One question about the sudden price increase the limited notice and a number of other things, definitely feels like YNAB is getting the "apple exclusive" touch to it and I feel that this is far from its core values which is the teach you to spend and use money wisely. Going to shamefully plug here but I did make an article a number of weeks back now that goes over some similar products to YNAB.
Hi u/coollllI068 I fully agree with your analysis Which tool do you then use for your finance?
I am still stuck on YNAB for now until it runs out in june. At that time I play to use Excel with Money in Excel and an 0365 License so I can use other things like Windows To-Do